Seven Days or: Because Teasing Means 'I Love You'
by MyLittleElphie
Summary: Guys can be real idiots, right? Talking to his six year old daughter, Fiyero is reminded of a not so glorious aspect of his own past. Fiyeraba. Shiz-era. A bit AUish. One-shot.


_**AN:**_

_This is for The Wizard Of Wicked :)_

_Ok, so I announced earlier that this would be a funny/silly kind of story, but now I think that it is not particularly funny at all! Actually I don't know what it is… it just… is. xD_

_So here is what happened: _

_As a little thank you for some help and inspiration for my last fic I asked The Wizard Of Wicked to send me some prompts I could make into a one-shot. So here is what I got:_

_~ Fiyero trying to fly on Elphaba's broom by himself_

~Elphaba being caught by Fiyero wearing his sunglasses

~Fiyero falls asleep in class and Elphaba paints his nails

~Fiyero teaching Elphaba how to hang upside down on monkey bars

_I had to leave out the one with the monkey bars (sorry Wizzy!) because I just could not fit it anywhere without making it all too ridiculous, but even with the other three prompts left it still all sounds rather comical, right? (As you can guess from the word count I added a bit more here and there lol)_

_Well, I was concerned whether I could even write comedyish kind of stuff, but the problem solved itself while I wrote the story. I just typed the words and somehow the story just didn't want to be really funny. Maybe, if I didn't completely screw up, it will make you smile here and there, but it certainly is not outright hilarious or anything like that… Or that's what I think – correct me if I'm wrong. _

_Anyway, I did what I could and this being based on prompts and not really something my own weird brain came up with it was a bit trickier to write than other fics. I would be overjoyed if you could give it a go and I if you could even leave a quick comment and let me know what you think about this… thing… that would be even more awesome!_

_There also is another one-shot coming soon!_

_Happy reading!_

_xoxo MLE_

* * *

**Seven Days **_**or:**_** Because Teasing Means 'I Love you' **

It was his turn to pick the children up from school - only too bad that he had not realized that sooner. Already running terribly late, he was deeply concerned about what Elphaba would say once the little ones told her that they had waited for over half an hour before he finally turned up. The mental image of her death glare sent chills up and down his spine. He would have to bribe these cheeky rascals in an attempt to keep them quiet and safe his hide. A piece of cake or some chocolate usually did the trick.

Thank Oz, he was almost there, for his breath was running out. Clenching his aching side, he dragged himself across the street and around the corner. He could see them now. They were still there, waiting. All was good.

No, not all was good! Why in Oz was Mephina crying? She was not a little baby anymore; surely his tardiness could not have scared her to tears? Her older brother, Theoran, gently rubbed her back.

Fiyero dropped to his knees next to his daughter.

"What's wrong princess?" he asked worriedly and completely out of puff. "It's alright now, papa is here."

The small girl looked up at him, fresh tears still flowing down her rosy cheeks. It seemed like she was trying to say something, but her lower lip began to quiver and more tears sprang to her sapphire blue eyes.

"That boy in her class harassed her again," Theoran explained in her stead.

Fiyero could not remember hearing anything about this tyke before – their mother, on the other hand, probably knew all about him.

"My poor little darling. Tell me what that meanie did to you," he prompted his daughter as he comfortingly wrapped his arms around her and began to move her in a gentle rocking motion.

"Last week he ate all of the cookies mummy had made for me. Without asking!" The anger was obvious in her face as the tears made way for glaring looks, knitted brows and the biggest pout he had ever seen on her.

But she was not quite done yet.

"Three days ago, he took a black crayon and scrawled all over that nice picture I was drawing. Yesterday he hid my slippers in the sandbox and today, at lunch, he spilled water all over me."

In proof of her claim, she showed him her dress. Fortunately it was as good as dry already.

"Poor sweet princess," Fiyero said, squeezing her hand soothingly, but at the same time fighting to suppress a small grin.

On their way home his mind kept wandering back to days long gone by.

"You know, Mephie, maybe he doesn't actually mean to hurt you," he finally suggested.

The brunette girl gave him an incredulous look.

"Well, boys are idiots sometimes," her father admitted.

His son protested vehemently, but Mephina only nodded in agreement.

"And sometimes, when a boy likes a girl, he is just too shy to really tell her. So in order to get her attention, he does all kinds of stupid things."

Screwing her nose, his daughter shook her head.

"No, even if that were true, he could not be _that_ hopeless. I mean seriously - shoes in a sandbox? What girl is supposed to fall for that!"

"Well," Fiyero said with a nervous laugh, "your papa was pretty hopeless, too, when he first met your mummy."

"Really?"

"Really."

* * *

She knew that she was not supposed to be here, but rules were for those morons who did not know how to climb trees, she told herself. As she waited for the resident of the room she was currently standing in, she considered the surrounding furnishings and decorations with distaste. Too ostentations, too obtrusive. The first time she had seen Galinda's suite, she had felt that it was a bit too much – too much _pink_ in particular. But in the end it was just the kind of room any would-be princess would dream of. _This_ room, however, was in a totally different league. Here everything practically screamed _'rich boy'_.

Out of boredom she began to go through his stuff - it was his own damn fault for taking so long. On the varnished and polished quoxwood desk she noticed an incomplete politics essay. The due date had passed two days ago, she knew and shook her head disapprovingly. Above one of his three dressers hung a mirror. She personally thought that having one in the bathroom would be absolutely sufficient, especially since even Galinda had only one other looking glass and that was her handy pocket mirror. Evidently this boy's vanity even surpassed that of the blonde belle.

In a small basket full of various trinkets, she found his sunglasses. It was surprising that he had left them behind, for no matter how bad the weather was and no matter how fast they were approaching Lurlinemas by now, she could still count the times that she had seen him without his favourite accessory on one hand. Unfolding the glasses, she studied them for a brief moment before she took off her own glasses and unceremoniously put on his. Goodness, how dark! She felt blind like a bat – and that not only because his glasses were not designed to correct her myopia. How did he even see where he was going, she wondered.

Just as she thought that, the door behind her opened and she spun around, forgetting to remove his shades. All she could see was a tall, lean shadow coming steadily closer. Embarrassed to be caught like this and annoyed that she had not thought about it earlier, she took off the glasses.

The dark figure turned out to be none other than Master Tiggular himself, of course, a smug, lopsided grin plastered across his overly perfect face.

"Why, Miss Elphaba," he said, almost sounding positively surprised. "What brings _you_ here to my humble quarters?"

To cover up her discomfiture, she tossed the sunglasses back in the basked. Surely he could afford a new pair in case she had just broken them.

"Disgruntlement brings me here," she growled, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Did you think I would not notice how you cheated during the test today, how you copied every single answer from my sheet?"

"To be honest, I was more concerned whether the professor would notice," he retorted undeterred. "Besides, what is the big deal?"

"The _'big deal'_? The big deal is that _I_ could be accused of actively helping you, the big deal is that _you_ have to start sorting out your life and try to accomplish things on your own instead of relying on others."

The first part was why she had come to confront him, the second part sounded surprisingly caring to her ears and she wondered what had even made her say it.

As she had predicted, he simply brushed off her anger as well as her concerns for him, which only infuriated her further.

"Well, too bad," she told him with as much disdain as she could muster. "You know, once I realized that you were cribbing, I started choosing the wrong answers to mislead you. And when you left the room early, I went over the test once more, erasing the false ones and replacing them with the correct options.

She lifted her chin up in a haughty gesture, but the prince did barely acknowledge what she had said and only indifferently shrugged his shoulders. The smug grin was still firmly in place.

Irritated by his nonchalance and his arrogance, she spun around and made for the window. She cast one last glare in his direction before climbing through the opening and descending down the old cherry tree.

Laughing Fiyero shook his head at the prickly green creature that had just left his suite. In an odd way he had enjoyed their verbal exchange – granted she had done most of the talking. He was not exactly sure how it could be that he had never paid her too much attention before. He had always appreciated girls with a bit of spunk and this one would be quite a challenge. Maybe she was presicely what he had been looking for all those years.

Her unusual skin tone would not be too much of a problem, he decided. If one just took the time to actually look at it instead of averting one's eyes in repulsion, it was surprising how beautiful it could be and how many different shades there were. His favourite shade had to be that purple hue that had crept to her cheeks when he had caught her with his sunglasses.

Her colour, her manner of speaking and the way she carried herself were all quite different and very intriguing indeed.

Suddenly he was convinced that he needed her, wanted her, could not live without her. Blame juvenility for this abrupt and utterly unexpected volte-face. The game was on. One way or another, he would get her attention and surely, one way or another, he would make this obstinate girl fall for him.

**** Day One ****

Now that he had finally made up his mind to worm his way into her life, it seemed like his plans would have to rest a little, for his usually so eagerly anticipated day off had just arrived – talk about bad timing.

At first he had considered to simply suspend his ventures until his next day of classes, but as he just sat in his lonely room with not much else to do, his thoughts kept wandering and eventually they turned towards the curious green girl. After trying to change the direction of his mind's path several times, he soon had to admit defeat. The artichoke – _no_, Elphaba - her name was Elphaba; had positively turned his head. So in the end he decided to try and see whether he could somehow find her and make his day a bit less miserable.

He finally found Elphaba and her roommate Miss Galinda taking a walk near suicide canal. While he had to struggle to contain his excitement,_ her_ annoyance was obvious and seemed absolutely genuine. Things would have been a million times easier if it only had been the shorter Gillikinese girl he was after, since the bubbly blonde seemed rather eager to get to know him better. Life is cruel that way.

Invited by the short blonde and barely tolerated by the tall green girl, he tagged along as they headed towards the town centre. Having found something close enough to a legit chaperone, they had decided that they should use the opportunity to run some errands.

Soon enough he found out that by this they meant a quick stop at a bookshop for Elphaba and several hours of clothes shopping for Galinda. It was tiresome, but for now at least he was still enthusiastic enough to stick it out as long as it meant that he could spend some time with his newest subject of interest.

During their long periods of waiting outside the changing rooms of various boutiques, conversation did not come easily, he had to admit. To a certain degree he was certain that she thought him far too witless to converse with her about any topic that would even remotely tickle her fancy.

Just when they had left the last shop on their route, they ran into that Munchkin he knew from some (although he was not sure which) of his classes. He heard Galinda call him _'Bick'_, but the boy insisted that it was _'Boq'_. In all likelihood he knew his own name better than she did.

Anyway, as soon as _Bick-Boq_ joined their party, he was suddenly snows of yesteryear. Almost literally, for big, white flakes had just begun to fall from the sky. On top of that it had grown cooler and windier as well.

The Munchkin and the girls flocked together, engaging in animated discussion, while Fiyero, all alone and forgotten, followed them.

Left to his thoughts, he kept staring at Elphaba's long braid. It was _very_ long. And so very black. He could not remember ever seeing her without that boring braid. What would it be like if these endless tresses of ebony were allowed to flow free, he wondered.

With one quick movement he tucked on the hairband that held it all together and removed it. Elphaba apparently had not even noticed it. At first the strands clung together as if they were still tied, but slowly the wind began to untangle them bit by bit.

At last her silky mane came completely undone. What a hypnotising sight. Still wavy from the firm braid, her hair danced in the breeze. Sometimes the tips would even tickle his nose or stroke his cheek. He admired its pristine condition; shimmering and smooth, yet strong and thick.

Unfortunately his moment of pleasure was cut short. A strong gust blew the raven locks right into Elphaba's face and with a frustrated huff, she gathered the hair in her fist, searching the ground for any sign of the tie that obviously had come lose. Looking up to ask Fiyero whether he had seen it, she spotted the dark blue ribbon still wrapped around his wrist. He certainly could have planned this better. With her free hand and one of her typical glares, she snatched the hair band away from him and quickly organized her long tresses in another, although somewhat messy, braid.

For the rest of the day she did not deign to look at him again.

**** Day Two ****

Ten minutes before nine Elphaba entered the seminar room and took her usual seat in the front row. As the tutorial commenced, she was – as always – still the only student sitting so close to the professor, with three empty rows between her and her classmates. Whether that was mainly because of her or the lecturer, she was not quite sure.

A few minutes into the lesson, the door opened and Fiyero slipped in. There was nothing surprising about that, however, what certainly did surprise her was his choice of seat. He first dropped his satchel on the desk next to her, then plonked himself down on the associated chair. She shot him a questioning look and he answered with a bright grin. Still confused, she quickly directed her attention back to the blackboard in front of the room.

After a couple of minutes, a small ball of crumpled-up paper landed on her open book. At first she assumed that he had intended for the ball to hit her, but had missed his target miserably. However, the messy handwriting on the white paper caught her attention. Carefully flattening the sheet, she read the note.

'_Forgot my book. Can we share?'_

So that was why he had decided to sit next to her?

As she turned to look at him, he was already pushing his desk and chair closer and the gap between the two tables gradually disappeared. With a repressed grunt of annoyance, she pushed the textbook closer to the boy to her left.

For a whole while they sat there quietly, minding their own business. She barely noticed that he was even there. Thank Oz. Diligently Elphaba continued taking notes and with her left ear detecting the familiar scratching sound caused by the tip of a pen on paper coming from where the prince was sitting, she was satisfied that Fiyero was doing the same.

"Now, who can tell me who won the _War of Yrms_?" the professor asked at some point.

Elphaba scanned the room, but no-one seemed to even think of making a move to answer. With a deep sigh, she raised her own hand.

"Nobody did," she said with more confidence than any other student in this class could ever seem to muster, no matter how easy the question. She went on to elaborate: "Neither the Lolmen, nor the Hilclans could win, so in the tenth year of the new calendar, after two hundred and fifty three years of fighting, the country was divided into Loland and Hiland."

"Yes, that is correct, Miss Elphaba," the professor nodded with a pleased smile. "Would you please be so kind and tell your classmates on which page of the course book you were able to find this valuable piece of information? Clearly_ they_ have been less successful."

She nodded briefly and pulled the book, now completely on Fiyero's desk, closer so she could find the right paragraph.

The shock was written all over her face, when she caught sight of the black and green colour pencil drawings of herself with the prince's sunglasses on. The caricatures she could excuse, after all she was used to ridicule, but the defilement of her leather-bound first edition of _The World Through Time Volume One: A Historical Analysis Of War And Peace_, hit her hard.

For one long minute she just sat there, staring at the daubry. The rest of the class slowly began to giggle and whisper.

"Are you alright, Miss Elphaba?" the professor enquired concerned.

"It's page eighty seven," she finally forced herself to say, but her voice was strained and almost inaudible. "The second paragraph."

For the remainder of the tutorial she remained silent, but Fiyero could hear her erratic breathing to his right. Slightly apprehensive, he inched away from her and concentrated on his note taking.

**** Day Three ****

After what had happened the day before, he did not dare to sit next to her again when their timetables once more coincided.

As soon the class had been dismissed, everyone was talking about this being the most boring lecture in history – the guest speaker had not only delivered a dull speech on an even duller topic, but had also been extremely somniferous to look at. Fiyero would not know, of course. All he had been busy doing for the last two hours was staring at his green heart throb (or '_Thropp'_) across the room.

After politics they both had three more lectures to attend, however, in separate auditoriums. At first he was extremely sullen about it, but that feeling changed to the complete opposite once he encountered Elphaba's blonde roommate during his philosophy class. She informed him that it was Bick's birthday and that they planned to go out for some food and drinks later. Kindly she even invited him to tag along.

He remembered the Munchkin from two days ago – and not in a good way. So naturally he cared little for the his upcoming anniversary, but the prospect of meeting Elphaba outside of school again, was more than enticing.

That same evening at eight he stood outside the _Peach and Kidneys_, hoping that the rest of the party guests would arrive before he died of hypothermia. And luckily they did.

Boq (or was it _'Bick'_ after all?) arrived with his green and his blonde friend on either side, followed by some more girls Fiyero did not know. He was definitely surprised that a little chap like him was able to attract such a harem.

They entered the pub and studied the menus. Although he was a prince, Fiyero's tastes were simple and it did not take long for him to decide on a meal. In the meantime Elphaba seemed to have more difficulties and, from what he overheard of her conversation with Galinda, complained about the lack of vegetarian options. When they finally placed their orders, she asked that the chef would simply forgo the bacon on her bacon pizza, which caused the waiter to arch an eyebrow and gawp at her for a little while. Of course the reaction could also have been due to her unusual skin tone.

As soon as the food arrived, Fiyero hungrily shovelled the chicken bites and roast wedges into his mouth and the others around him seemingly mimicked his behaviour – except for a certain green girl. After a few moments he noticed that Elphaba had still not touched her food, but was in fact staring at it with as much distaste as if she had been served a scoop of cow dung. Her baconless bacon pizza still featured a decent amount of bacon and not much else.

He was not quite sure why she was so opposed to eating meat, but he also did not want her to starve. So feeling incredibly helpful, he used his fork to stab one of the bacon pieces, lift it off the pastry base and let it disappear in his own mouth.

All she did in response was gaping at him, her big, brown eyes blinking and sometimes twitching nervously. He in return winked at her and flashed her a toothy grin. While Elphaba continued staring at him, Glinda wordlessly removed all of the offending bacon strips off the pizza and began to re-decorate the plain base with vegetables and herbs she found on her own and Boq's plates.

**** Day Four ****

They would not have any classes together for the next two days, so Fiyero decided to sneak around and follow Elphaba inconspicuously wherever she went. He soon found out that her diurnal routine was rather monotonous. Her day started with a session in the library before she went to her first two lectures. After that it was a quick snack in the cafeteria and back to the library. Three more lectures and a seminar followed, then she spent the rest of the evening in the same dark corner of the library.

Already sick of the stuffy air that smelled far too much like old, rotting books and suffering from serious sunlight-withdrawal, he concluded that the green skin was probably working in her favour. If her pigmentation had been _'normal'_, she would undoubtedly look unhealthily white and somewhat ghost-like.

Trying to remember everything the great warriors of the Vinkus had taught him about stealth, he hid in another corner of the library, pretending to read a book and catching covert glimpses of his target every now and then.

Since not much was happening anyway, he began to actually read the words in front of his nose and to his great surprise he found that _An Overview Of Munchkin Customs And Practices_ was not as dreary as expected; on a second thought it might even prove useful at a later point.

In the end he was so engrossed in the anthropological page-turner that he completely forgot checking on the girl he had come here for. By the time he remembered the purpose of his visit, at least an hour must have passed. Luckily Elphaba was still there, right at the same spot he had last seen her. He was completely stunned, however, when he found that she had fallen asleep.

For a while he simply stared at her sleeping from, so tranquil and beautiful. Her facial features, usually so harsh, severe even, were now relaxed and nearly angelic. Who would have guessed? In a way he had almost believed that her signature frown was irremovably engraved between her brows. But he had seen her smile before, had he not? He could have sworn he had. At some point.

Ever so carefully, he rose from his seat on the couch and slowly crept closer and closer until he stood next to her. His hand soon hovered above her head, twitching, aching to touch her silky hair, stroke the smooth, emerald skin. But he knew very well that he could not do that. She would most likely kill him should he wake her in doing so.

He retracted his hands quickly and stuffed them in his pockets in an attempt to keep them from wandering places they did not belong. His right hand felt the coolness of something metallic. He closed his palm around the object, trying to guess what it was. Ah, of course...

He continued eying the sleeping beauty in front of him, taking in every detail – after all he had no way of being sure whether he would have such a chance ever again.

Then his gaze fell on a stray lock of hair that had fallen out of her braid. The hand in his pocked started to act up again. Without giving it much of a thought, he took it and the object it was holding out of the pocket. His eyes still lingering on Elphaba, readying himself to jump as soon as her lids would do as much as flutter, he opened the small pocketknife. Moving closer, inch by inch, he picked up the lose strand of raven hair. A quick cut and the prize was his. It took mere seconds and he was out of the dark corner, out of the library, _Munchkin Customs and Practices_ lay all but abandoned on the couch he had previously occupied.

Elphaba stirred not much later, disturbed by the unruly strand of hair that tickled her eyes. She opened her braid to redo it, but some of the hair would simply not stay in place.

She turned towards the dark window to her right, examining her reflection. It was obvious that the strand that stuck out had been cut and she knew exactly who to blame.

**** Day Five ****

Exasperatedly Elphaba stood in front of the mirror in her bathroom, trying to tame her thick mane of ebony. This was the tenth time that she brushed her hair, trying to integrate the one shortened strand well enough so it would finally stay in place. She even applied some of Galinda's hair products in an attempt to literally glue it to her head. Nothing would work. Her jaw was clenched, her teeth grinding. She was anything but vain, but _this _looked ridiculous!

Just in that moment her roommate came into the bathroom to put on some perfume. She had a quick look at Elphaba, then surveyed the hairy problem and smiling hurried across the room to retrieve something from her jewellery box.

Merely a clock-tick later she was back at her friend's side. Gingerly she fastened a small clip at the side of Elphaba's head.

"There. All better," she beamed.

Reluctantly the taller girl brought her hand up to the unfamiliar accessory while considering her reflection in the looking glass. It was black and would have been barely visible in her dark hair if it had not been for the little sparkly particles which, thank Oz, had mostly worn off already. Well, at least it was not pink, baby blue or some other pastel colour.

She nodded slowly – the best she could do in thanking Galinda for providing her with such a girly tool to solve her problem.

Now that she was ready to leave the relative safety of her room, she could not wait to take a sip of some hot, caffeinated beverage. As soon as they arrived in the cafeteria, the blonde girl went to find them a table while Elphaba prepared a hot chocolate for her friend and a coffee for herself. Very strong. Black.

Balancing the drinks on a tray, she looked around in search for Galinda. At that very moment Fiyero came rushing into the room, almost colliding with his emerald crush.

The day had not started all that well for him. He was due to deliver a presentation for his politics paper, but had overslept by a whole hour. If he was to mess this up, he might very soon find himself looking for another university. Again.

He stumbled backwards a couple of steps, staring at Elphaba who had just managed to save the hot beverages. Flashing her a nervous smile, he mumbled something that remotely sounded like an apology.

A bell, announcing the beginning of classes, made Fiyero start, reminding him of his upcoming presentation. Still starving and half asleep, he grabbed the hot chocolate from Elphaba's tray and emptied the mug with one huge gulp. Then, while giving the green girl a peck on her flushed cheek, he took the cup of coffee and set off.

Completely floored, not even realizing how she was gaping at his vanishing form in a most ungainly fashion, Elphaba simply stood in the middle of the cafeteria, still holding up her tray.

Her stupor was broken when Galinda placed a fresh cup of coffee on the tray. The blonde herself was holding a mug of hot chocolate in her dainty hands.

"Come Elphie, we're running late," she said calmly and the two girls were off to their first lecture of the day.

**** Day Six ****

In the end of the politics lecture their professor announced the next big assignment. Students whose surname started with any letter between _A_ and _M_ were to write about the positive and negative aspects of the reign of the Ozma Dynasty, the rest of the class would address the question of whether unity rather benefitted or impeded the Ozian economy as a whole.

If she could have, Elphaba would have left for the library as soon as the lecture had ended to ensure she had the first pick of the books on the topic. Unfortunately, she had just one more class to go to.

One hour later she finally reached the library and headed straight towards the politics section. She scanned the titles of an endless number of books, but after she had done so for what seemed a very long period of time, she grew frustrated with the lack of positive results. Not one book so far had matched her search criteria. The topic was not all that specialized, she supposed, so it was near impossible that there was not a single related book available. In fact there should be a couple dozen, and several copies of each, she reasoned. Maybe she had just overlooked them? However unlikely that sounded, she went back to the start and began her search anew.

The daylight falling in through the windows already began to dwindle. Oz knows how long she had spent looking for these damned books. Usually she would have already taken pages upon pages of notes by now.

Finally she came to the conclusion that there was but one explanation for the absence of the books: they must all be on loan. How such a thing could happen was a mystery to her – only one hour after class the majority of students were not even thinking about the assignment.

Quietly chiding herself for not doing this earlier and consequently having wasted a ridiculous amount of time, she walked over to the librarian's counter to ask for the list of students who had borrowed the books relevant to her topic. Maybe this way she could track them down and ask them whether she could have a look at the texts for an hour or two to take some notes.

The list she received was long, but shockingly unvaried, for every single copy on loan had been taken by one and the same person: Fiyero Tiggular.

_Him_. Again. How infuriating.

She took the shortest route to the male dormitories she could think of. Swiftly and almost without making a single sound, she climbed up the old cherry tree. Luckily the window was open and she did not have to sit there in the cold.

"I was wondering when you would finally arrive here," she heard the prince say as soon as she had clambered inside.

Fixating him with a stabbing glare, she walked up to him.

"What do you think you are doing, Master Tiggular?" she demanded, her voice just as cutting as the look in her eyes. "Do you think this is funny? Don't you think that the green girl already has to put up with enough mockery and jokes? Or do you want to prove yourself to everyone, show them on which whose side your are? I did not think that there was any need for further clarification."

She stood so close to him now, that he could feel her breath brushing his face. Under different circumstances he would have been excited, but the accusations she had raised had left him flabbergasted. He could not quite understand how she had arrived at these kinds of assumptions.

"Please, Elphaba," he exclaimed, but oddly his voice seemed to fail him. "You can have the books! Really. I just wanted you to come here again. So I could see you. And… and maybe we could talk?"

"Talk. Sure," she all but huffed.

She spotted the stack of books in a corner and her hands twitched to snatch some of them and disappear, but instead she whirled around, climbed out of the window and disappeared without even a single one of them.

Later that evening Fiyero knocked on the door of Galinda and Elphaba's dorm room. He was slightly disappointed when it was Blondie who opened the door, but if he had really upset the green girl, it was only natural that she would not want to see him.

"Here," he said passing two big, heavy bags to Galinda. "These are for Elphaba."

The petite girl seemed surprised at the number of books, but nodded.

"I'll give them to her when she returns."

"'When she returns'?"

Checking his pocket watch in disbelief, Fiyero's brow furrowed.  
"It's past midnight!"

Galinda shrugged her shoulders.

"That's not too unusual. Sometimes, whenever she had a rough day, she takes a little longer to come back here. Oz knows where she wanders around, but in the end she always shows up eventually, so I've learnt to stay calm. More or less."

"But won't Morrible find out?"

"Elphie is clever. She never gets caught."

He nodded quietly and turned to leave without saying another word.

Was he feeling guilty? He supposed that throughout the whole week his attempts to get closer to the green girl had not always been particularly successful, but could it be that he had really offended or even hurt her? He surely had meant no harm, but girls could be difficult at times. Very difficult.

He left the building and once more looked back over his shoulder. Should he have asked her blonde roommate to convey his apologies to her?

Elphaba watched him as he left. She had been on her way back to the girls' dormitories when she had first seen him enter. In an attempt to avoid him, she had decided to wait outside.

The door fell shut with a loud bang behind her and without saying much, she flopped down on her bed. Noticing the big pile of books on the floor, she unenthusiastically picked up one of them and flipped through the pages before putting it back down with a huff.

"Fiyero came by just a few minutes ago to drop these off for you," Galinda explained.

Another huff.

"What's wrong Elphie?" she asked uneasily.

"Not much out of the ordinary. Oh, and Fiyero decided to go from ignoring me to making my life miserable. As if I even needed his help for that…"

The short blonde blinked a few times as she considered her roommate.

"Well, I can't say that I have much of an idea of what happened between you two, but from what I have seen, he is definitely not trying to make you miserable in any way. But if his advances do have this effect on you, it surely is not what he intended. You know how boys are, right?"

Elphaba looked at her in confusion and Galinda bit her lower lip.

"Or maybe you don't," she conceded.

Taking a deep breath, she sat down next to the taller girl and took one of her hands in both of hers.

"Well, you see, Elphie… If a boy likes a girl-"

Elphaba's eye twitched oddly as she cast a side-glance at her friend.

"-he often doesn't know how to say it. Or some are in fact too arrogant to admit it, but I doubt that this is the case with Fiyero… Anyway, not being able to openly express their feelings, boys tend to do silly things to show their affection."

"Like what?" Elphaba asked with a raised eyebrow, seemingly unconvinced.

"Well," Galinda said slowly, "What has Fiyero been doing recently?"

Not a good question, she noted as soon as the words had left her lips, for her friend's face darkened at the thought of the occurrences of the week so far.

"I was most upset when he defiled my book, when he removed every manuscript about Ozian economy from the library and when his repulsive, wet lips touched the skin of my cheek." - she had in fact long forgotten about the hot chocolate and the coffee.

"Rather clumsy, that Master Fiyero," Galinda had to admit. "However that doesn't change my assessment of the situation."

Elphaba remained doubtful.

**** Day Seven ****

The next day Fiyero did not sit next to Elphaba in class. He would not try and talk to her either. Of course she was glad to have her peace at last, but her roommate's words kept echoing in her head and looking at the prince, she found that he looked rather crestfallen. But it served him right, did it not?

After spending lunch break in their dorm, Galinda and Elphaba just made it on time for the social science lecture. Elphaba had been ready to leave about half an hour ago, but whenever she walked to class together with Galinda, slight delays had to be expected –whether the problem was a hair that stuck out of her otherwise so perfect do, a dress that did not quite match the bow on her head or a speck of dirt on her shoes.

It was too late to protest, when Elphaba noticed that her friend had sat down next to Fiyero, so she decided to sit in front of them instead of next to either. Fiyero simply acknowledged the blonde girl with a nod, but was too anxious to even look at the green one.

It was a two-hour class and many of the students clearly lacked the energy to participate. Some, like Fiyero, even fell asleep after a while. Hearing Fiyero quietly snoring behind her, Elphaba turned in her seat and stared at him incredulously. She tried to direct her attention back to the lesson, but that proved exceptionally difficult for some reason.

Near the end of the class the prince was still snoozing. Elphaba rolled her eyes at him and with a swift movement reached to grab Galinda's handbag.

"Elphie!" the blonde whisper-exclaimed bewildered, but the raven-haired girl ignored her.

She went through the bag in search of… _something. _Lipstick? No. Perhaps some blush? Or how about eye shadow? After searching a little longer, she decided on a bright pink, glittery nail polish.

With an impish grin on her face, she turned around and opened the small bottle. Galinda seemed like she wanted to protest at first, but wisely decided not to risk a commotion. With more skill than Galinda had thought her capable of Elphaba painted Fiyero's nails; not without noticing how well groomed they appeared.

She finished just in time for the class to end and the professor to dismiss his students.

"Come Galinda, you know we have to be quick if we want to make it across campus and to the sorcery lecture before Madame Morrible throws a tantrum again," she said, throwing her bag over her shoulder and rushing off.

The shorter girl picked up the precious flask of branded nail polish Elphaba had left behind so carelessly and hurriedly scribbled a few lines in Fiyero's open notebook.

The buzzing of his classmates leaving and new students coming in woke the prince soon enough. With shock he discovered the bright colouration of his nails. As he began to pack up his materials, he found the note Galinda had left for him.

'_Don't worry, Fifi – I'm sure she likes you, too.'_

Maybe all hope was not lost after all.

* * *

"Mama, mama!"

Terrified little Mephina came running into the study where her mother stood hunched over an old, heavy book on a stand, reading out words in a strange and mysterious language.

"Mummy!"

"Hush!" Elphaba admonished her daughter and, with a swift movement of her hand, gestured for her to leave.

"But mama!" the girl kept badgering her, "Papa is about to jump off the roof!"

"What?!"

She certainly had her mother's full attention now.

"I swear, if that is just another of your silly jokes," Elphaba muttered between clenched teeth as she stormed out of the study, through the hall and out of the house.

In the courtyard she found her eldest staring up, watching intently. Following his gaze, she could indeed see Fiyero standing on the roof. In his hands he was holding her broom.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" she shouted.

Why did this man have to behave even more childish than their eight year old son and six year old daughter?

"Oh no, come on children! Why did you have to snitch on me again?" Fiyero complained. "This was supposed to be a surprise!"

"A surprise?" Elphaba was certainly not impressed. "Are you mad? Come down here this instant!" she barked.

"Alright, love, I'm coming!" Fiyero yodelled, before hopping on the broom and pushing himself off the roof.

The broom seemed to cooperate at first, but soon it got out of control, bucking and rearing like a wild horse. He held on as best as he could and luckily the ornery cleaning tool soon surrendered into a smooth floating motion, slowly descending to the ground. For a second Fiyero put a smug grin on his face, but his expression fell and his ears turned bright red when he caught sight of his wife moving her hands about and seemingly whispering to herself.

Once he was safe on the ground and she could stop her incantations, she quickly closed the gap between them, her most fearsome stare directed right at him.

"What kind of ridiculous idea was that?" she demanded. "You could have gotten yourself killed!

"I… I just tried to wind you up a little. Like at school, remember? For old time's sake," he tried to explain helplessly while she continued glowering at him.

"It wasn't a good idea back then and it certainly isn't right now. And in front of the children!"

"Actually," he said shrugging his shoulders, "they kind of were the reason why I did it."

She had no clue what in Oz he could be talking about.

"Did you know that Mephie has a secret admirer?"


End file.
